Sir Ernest Oppenheimer was a South African mining and industrial magnate. He was born in the 1880 at Friedberg in Hesse, Germany and arrived in London when he was only a young man, to join his older brother Louis at the firm of Anton Dunkelsbuhler who was a relative. Dunkelsbuhler was a well known diamond merchant with interest in South Africa and in1902 he sent the young Ernest to be his representative in Kimberley .
It did not take long before Ernest Oppenheimer became known as one of the top experts among the diamond buyers. When diamonds were discovered in what was then German South West Africa (now Namibia), he travelled there on behalf of the interests he represented and created an intelligent report on the possible future of the diamond industry as early as 1910.
On his return, he was was elected to the Kimberly Town Council and in 1912 became the Mayor of Kimberley and held the position for 3 years. In 1914 when the first world war broke out, Ernest Oppenheimer moved to Johannesburg and after securing financial backing from the United States and acquiring large German and other interests, he established the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa which soon became one of the largest mining groups in South Africa.
After the War, Ernest Oppenheimer was knighted by King George V of England for his wartime service becoming one of very few Jews who had received the honor at that time
When German South West Africa was occupied by South African Troops, he gained control of German interests there and formed the Consolidated Diamond Mines of South West Africa. In 1929 he became the chairman of De Beers consolidated Mines.
Ernest Oppenheimer had married Mary Pollock from London and they had two sons. He was involved in politics and was a member of Jan Smuts’s South African Party. He was the parliamentary representative for Kimberley until his retirement from politics in 1938.
He gradually began to place a lot of his interests in the hands of his son and in 1957 Ernest Oppenheimer died in Johannesburg leaving control of all his business interests to his son Harry Oppenheimer, who became chairman of Anglo American Corporation as well as De Beers consolidated mines.